Expanding earth anchor



NOV. 10, 1953 w, HOLLANDER 2,658,590

EXPANDING EARTH ANCHOR Filed Sept. 25, 1951 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 IN V ENTOR.

NOV. 10, 1953 w HOLLANDER 2,658,590

EXPANDING EARTH ANCHOR Filed Sept. 25, 1951 k 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 IN V ENTOR.

William Z. ffaZla zzaer Patented Nov. 10, 1953 UNITED STATES PTENTOFFICE A. B. Chance Compan poration of Missouri y, Centralia, Mo., acor- Application'September 25, 1951, Serial N 0. 248,250

3 Claims. 1

The present invention relates to expanding earth anchors, and isparticularly concerned with expanding anchors adapted to be constructedof sheet metal, such as steel.

One of the object of the invention is the provision of an expandinganchor which develops a higher holding power than the correspondinganchors of the prior art, utilizing the same amount of steel.

Another object of the invention is the provision of an improved steelexpanding anchor which is more economical in the use of steel, and whichis simple in construction and involves simpler methods of manufactureand simpler dies than the devices of the prior art.

Another object of the invention is the provision of improved steelexpanding anchors which can be collapsed into a smaller space than thedevices of the prior art, and which can, therefore, be installed in asmaller hole, and which also expand to a larger radius, engaging a widerarea of undisturbed earth, thereby increasing the holding power.

Another object of the invention is the provision of improved steelexpanding anchors, the blades of which penetrate the earth more easily,and which include a multiplicity of blades, so that the holding powermay be unaffected by the failure of one or more blades striking rocks orother obstructions, since there are a multiplicity of other blades,resulting in a large holding power.

Another object of the invention is the provision of improved blades forsteel expanding anchors, which utilize the sheet steel in such manner asto provide maximum strength and maximum penetrating power, whileinvolving a minimum amount of waste.

Other objects and advantages of the invention will be apparent from thefollowing description and the accompanying drawings, in which similarcharacters of reference indicate similar parts throughout the severalviews.

Referring to the two sheets of drawings accompanying this specification,

Fig. 1 is a side elevational view of the anchor and guy rod assemblybefore expansion of the anchor;

Fig. 2 is a side elevational view in partial section, showing the anchorin expanded condition;

Fig. 3 is a plan view of the pattern for the anchor blades;

Fig. 4 is a plan view, showing one of the blades in a flat condition,after it has been shaped;

Fig. 5 is a side elevational view of the blade of 55 Fig. 4;

Fig. 6 is a side elevational view of one of the blades, after it hasbeen bent to the collapsed form of the anchor assembly, but before ithas been assembled with other blades and the expander;

Fig. 7 is a sectional view, taken on the plane of the line 71 of Fig. 4,looking in the direction of the arrows;

Fig. 8 is a section-a1 view, taken on the plane of the line 8-5 of Fig.4, looking in the direction of the arrows;

Fig. 9 is a fragmentary plan view of another blade pattern, showing analternative form of blade end.

Referring to Figs. 1 and 6, the anchors embodying the inventionpreferably include an expanding member It and an expander ll, thesebeing assembled with a guy rod [2 and a nut [3. The expander ll ispreferably circular in shape, having a substantially cylindrical sidewall M joined to a partially spherical or frusto-conical top wall.

The top wall has a central bore [5 for passing the guy rod, below whichthere is located a sheet metal nut retainer It, having a registeringaperture. The nut retainer It comprises a strip of steel, which may beas wide as the nut I3, and which has its body welded to the bottom ofthe expander II at the aperture l5, and has a pair of side flanges l'ltraversing the nut and bent over at I8 under the nut.

The guy rod 12 may pass between the flanges 18; but the flanges I! holdthe nut against turning, and the flanges it hold the assembly againstsliding upward on the guy rod.

The expanding anchor assembly 10 preferably consists of a plurality ofblade units 20 of the type shown in Fig. 6. Each of these has a flat orplane central body 2|, which, as shown in Fig. 4, is substantiallyhexagonal in shape. Thus the body 2| has a pair of edges 22, 23 at anangle of degrees to each other on each side; and the body supports theblades 24 and 25, which extend from the other two sides.

Referring to Fig. 3, this is the pattern for the blades, which may becut out of stock of standard width. The pattern is formed with thecentral hexagonal body portion 2| and with the blade portions 26 and 21,each of which has a pair of parallel sides 28, 29, and a curved end 30.

The present anchor may also be made with a square body and with fourblades on two blade units; or on an octagon, or any even number ofblades.

The ends 30 may be formed with tie wire apertures 3| in the oppositecorners at the same time the blank is punched out of the metal stock.

The blade portions 26 and '21 taper at 32 toward the body 2| and arejoined to the body by the narrow portions 33. The narrower portions 33are naturally the easiest points at which to bend the blades; and thisbending takes place in the formation of the unit '20 and in theexpanding of the anchor.

Each blank has a central aperture 34 in its body 2| for passing the guyrod; and after the blanks are punched out, as shown in'Fig. 3, they areformed by stamping, as shown in Figs. 4 and 5. In this operation eachblade portion 7.6, 21 is formed into the blades 24 and 25, having thelongitudinally extending, oval, bulging ribs 35, extending substantiallythe full length of the blade and protruding upward.

At the same time the body 36 of each blade is given a downward curve inthe middle, making it upwardly concave and downwardly convex, except forthe rib 25, which bulges from the top.

At the same time the corners Bl between the main blade portion 25 andthe tapered portion 32 are turned up, forming laterally taperedreinforcing flanges 38 (Fig. 4),, further stiffening the blade at thatportion, near the body 24.

The curved ends .30 of the blades are preferably beveled .at these ends.36, as shown in Fig. 4, to sharpen these cutting edges.

Since the central body 21 of each blade unit is hexagonal, when theblades have been :bent down along the line 33, there is space on eachbody for passing the blades of two other such units, with the bladesoverlapping.

Due to the narrowness of the present blades, the blades can be bent.down .to almost right angle position; and due to their curvature, thelower ends turn outward into engagement with the upper corner 39 of theexpander I.

Three of the blade units of Fig. 6 may then be assembled, as shown inFig. 1, with their bodies overlapping and their blades disposed aroundthe sides of the resulting hexagon, which is formed of three layers ofsteel. These three bodies may be welded together, if desired; but insome embodiments of the invention they need only be assembled and heldby having the outermost blade unit tied to the expander l I by tie wires40. The tie wires pass through holes in the expander H and through theholes 3| in the uppermost blade unit.

Fig. 7 shows the section of the blades along the line through thereinforcing flanges 38,.

Fig. 8 shows the section of the blades at the wider portion along theline 88. By turning up the reinforcing flanges 38 the blades may bebrought closer together at the top; and the size of the assembled anchoris reduced so that it may be used in a smaller hole than thecorresponding anchors of the prior art.

Referring to Fig. 9, this shows an alternative end formation 4| on theend of a blade, in which the two beveled end portions 4| join at an apex42.

The operation of the present anchor is as tollows. The anchor isassembled with the guy rod and nut, the rod being threaded into the nut,as shown in Fig. 2; and the assembly then looks as shown in Fig. l. The.hole is dug in the :ground at an angle corresponding to the angle of"the guy or cable which is to be attached to the guy rod.

Using the guy rod as a handle, the blade assembly of Fig. l is moveddown into the bottom of the hole; and the anchor is then expanded bytamping on the top of the hexagonal bodies 2| of the anchor assembly. Asthe body 2| of the anchor is forced toward the nut and toward theexpander II, the curved bottom portions of the blades slide outward overthe corner 39 and are directed into the surrounding undisturbed earth.

Since the blades are quite narrow and narrower than the blades of theprior art devices, they penetrate the undisturbed earth more easily. Theexpanding is continued until the inside of the expanding body has struckthe top portion M of the expander '14. This impact can be definitelyheard and felt with a tamper; and therefore the user knows that he hasexpanded this anchor completely.

The present blades may be made longer than anchors of the same size ofthe prior art, for the same size hole; and therefore they penetratefarther into the undisturbed earth. Their holdi-ng power is augmented bythe fact that they extend radially over a greater distance into theearth.

The advantages of the present anchor over those of the prior art are asfollows:

'1. The present anchor utilizes a minimum amount of steel to produce anequal expanded area.

2. The narrow blade stock is easily handled in production.

3. The assembly is made of three identical blades, and involves 'aminimum amount of die work.

4. Greater holding power results from this anchor because the expandedarea is composed of six narrow arms, which penetrate deeper into theundisturbed earth.

5. Part of the holding power is due to the resistance to the shearing ofthe blades through the earth; and this anchor has a greater holdingpower because of its greater perimeter when expanded.

'6. The greatest economy of material is obtained by this anchor becausethe major portion of the blades is in the undisturbed earth, whereasother anchors have .forty to seventy percent of the blade area coveringthe base .or expander, with one or two thicknesses, having only thirtyto sixty percent of the blades in the undisturbed earth.

While I have illustrated a preferred embodiment of my invention, .manymodifications may be .made without departing from the spirit of theinvention, and I do not wish to be limited to the ,precise details orconstruction set forth, butdesire to avail myself of all changes withinthe soqpelof the appendedelaims,

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new and desire tosecure by Letter:, :Raltent of the United :States, is:

1. An expanding earth anchor nomprising an expander member or sheetmetal provided with a circular border and with an upwardly curvedcamming surface surrounding a central bore for receiving a guy rod, anda roughly conical :blade assembly comprising three blade units forrhedof substantially rectangular elongated strips of sheet steel, each bladeun it having a central aperture for the guy rod and the blade unitsextending at angles of degrees to each other, the said blade units beingcut away on each side adjacent the central aperture with four triangularcut-outs, leaving a substantially hexagonal tamp-,

ing area surrounding said aperture and providing each blade unit withnarrowed bending portions on the opposite sides of said tamping area,the blade units being bent downward at an obtuse angle at said bendingportion to bring the blade units into the said roughly conical form withthe inner surfaces of the ends of the blades engaging said expandingmember.

2. An expanding earth anchor comprising an expander member of sheetmetal provided with a circular border and with an upwardly curvedcamming surface surrounding a central bore for receiving a guy rod, anda roughly conical blade assembly comprising three blade units formed ofsubstantially rectangular elongated strips of sheet steel, each bladeunit having a central aperture for the guy rod and the blade unitsextending at angles of 120 degrees to each other, the said blade unitsbeing cut away on each side adjacent the central aperture with fourtriangular cut-outs, leaving a substantially hexagonal tamping areasurrounding said aperture and providing each blade unit with narrowedbending portions on the opposite sides of said tamping area, the bladeunits being bent downward at an obtuse angle at said bending portion tobring the blade units into the said roughly conical form with the innersurfaces of the ends of the blades engaging said expanding member, eachof the blades of said blade units being curved outwardly concave in alongitudinal direction and formed with a longitudinal long oval bulgeforming a stiffening portion of the blade.

3. An expanding earth anchor comprising an expander member of sheetmetal provided with a circular border and with an upwardly curvedcamming surface surrounding a central bore for receiving a guy rod, anda roughly conical blade assembly comprising three blade units formed ofsubstantially rectangular elongated strips of sheet steel, each bladeunit having a central aperture for the guy rod and the blade unitsextending at angles of 120 degrees to each other, the said blade unitsbeing cut away on each side adjacent the central aperture with fourtriangular cut-outs, leaving a substantially hexagonal tamping areasurrounding said aperture and providing each blade unit with narrowedbending portions on the opposite sides of said tamping area, the bladeunits being bent downward at an obtuse angle at said bending portion tobring the blade units into the said roughly conical form with the innersurfaces of the ends of the blades engaging said expanding member, eachof the blades of said blade units being curved outwardly concave in alongitudinal direction and formed with a longitudinal long oval bulgeforming a stiffening portion of the blade, the said blades having thecorners of the blades on each side adjacent said triangular cut-outsbent outwardly to permit the blades to be bent downwardly into closerabutting relation, reducing the size of the anchor and the size of thehole required for its placement.

WILLIAM L. HOLLANDER.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS NumberName Date 831,464 OLeary Sept. 18, 1906 1,629,353 Michalicek May 17,1927 1,702,536 Cole Feb. 19, 1929 1,724,341 Cole Aug. 13, 1929 1,973,995Pieper Sept. 18, 1934 2,570,646 Cole Oct. 9, 1951 v FOREIGN PATENTSNumber Country Date 242,834 Great Britain Nov. 19, 1925

